HISPANIC VOTERS GETTING READY TO REWARD/PUNISH OVER IMMIGRATION ISSUE

A new poll from Bendixen and Associates of 800 Hispanic voters across the country reveals an electorate that is leaning Democratic, but one that is very concerned over how the Democrats are handling the immigration issue. The poll, commissioned by immigration advocacy group America's Voice, also shows Hispanic voters plan on voting in greater numbers than the general public in 2010.

Comments

AJ
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05-18-2009 11:36 PM

What can they do if both parties keep ignoring them? Hope one party blinks.

George Chell
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05-19-2009 04:42 AM

I think eventually the Dems will vote for CIR or something similar. However, I am sick and tired of the antis talking about foreign workers being exploited. Why dont you talk about American workers being exploited? Why dont you talk about unqualified Americans being hired at low wages costing their and other people's lives, literally? How about a pilot being hired at a pay of $16,000 per annum with less qualifications over a better qualified American in an industry that only hires Americans? Yes, I am talking about the airline industry. I am talking about Colgan Air and Rebecca Shaw the first officer in that fiery Buffalo crash. Not much experience, she thought it was an adventure..she got hired for $16,000 per annum..literally slave wages and when it came to icing neither she nor her better paid captain ($50,000 per annum) could land the plane safely on that colod Buffalo evening. Seems like to the antis expoloitation of American workers is fine but not the body shop for foreign workers. Several lives were lost including one person on the ground. Rebecca Shaw was the neighbor of one of my relatives back in Seattle. Some people I know had attended the funeral and told me that her mother did not want her taking a job at $16,000 flying a plane. She could have done a better job driving a taxi. Foreign students get paid nearly $30,000 full time in summer in Australia for driving a taxi which in US$ terms is more than what first officer Shaw made. Pretty pathetic. But, obviously to the antis lives lost as a result of unqaulified Americans being hired is less valuable than better products made by body shops! And one more time, for every one H1B rejected there are ten Indians waiting to take that job to India.

Legal and no longer waiting
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05-19-2009 06:21 AM

One of those rare times when I 100% agree with a Republican proposal - guest worker program must be part of the CIR. If anything, to ensure that people don't have to come illegally after the CIR is enacted, leading to exactly where we started - illegal immigration. I think, Obama is strongly pro guest worker program, at least, based on his answers to immigration questionnaire when he was being elected.

JoeF
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05-19-2009 07:08 AM

George, the dismal pay for commuter airline pilots is well known in aviation circles (I know, I am a private pilot.)
On top of that, these pilots have lots of debt, since getting an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) certification is very expensive, up to 6 figures.
Pilots need hours to get hired by the big airlines, and the two ways to get the hours are working as flight instructor (also dismal pay) or for a commuter airline.
The crash in Buffalo didn't surprise me, I am only surprised that there aren't more such crashes.

George Chell
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05-19-2009 07:18 AM

Arapaio's city is in the list. If he succeeds in scaring enough people off, he should climb to at least the top five by the end of the year! I personally dont think we should bail them out.

"The crash in Buffalo didn't surprise me, I am only surprised that there aren't more such crashes."

God must be an American, if only because we are still a very open country. However, $16,000 goes back to something I said earlier. $16,000, a slave wage, or perhaps worse than some salary of illegal immigrants, should be a subject of debate. Now why did they pay the young lady a slave wage..simple...Americans talk up a storm about paying $4 a head for lettuce, but they wont...they are just being dishonest! We all want cheap fares..I dont want to pay more than $150 for a flight from DC to Buffalo..or should I say I cannot afford to pay...that is why they pay $16,000 to an airline pilot. We dont put our money where our mouth is. The net result..in spite of low pay and low wages, airlines make a loss because the good for nothing all-American management know that they will always be bailed out. Now in California budget cuts will decimate university finances at a time when we need to train more people. However, the universities have other options and they dont have to admit in-state students if tax revenues are being cut. They will admit more out of state and foreign students and get money from private sources including industry and alumni..as a result fewer Americans will be educated, more foreigners will be educated..and the antis who dont have anything to say about the budget cuts now, will be raising hell in 2012 when the economy barrells ahead full steam and we need to hire foreigners because of shortage of Americans...and the airline pilots such as Shaw..they may be making even less than an illegal (if of course illegals are still around by that time)..what a shame!

Dan
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05-19-2009 11:01 AM

That's exactly why free-market economy must be regulated to protect health & safety of people and the environment. We cannot say that free-market will adjust itself. True, but after a tragic event.

Jim
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05-19-2009 12:24 PM

"That's exactly why free-market economy must be regulated to protect health & safety of people and the environment. We cannot say that free-market will adjust itself. True, but after a tragic event."

So true. And most often times, these so-called free-marketers are the first ones to cry the sky is falling or it's the end of the world and then blame it to innocent by-standers such as immigrants (legal or otherwise). They blame it on anything and anyone other than the 'free-market'.

Legal and no longer waiting
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05-19-2009 12:58 PM

Traveling by air is still one of the safest modes of travel. Of course, it does not mitigate the errors made by unprepared and possibly overworked pilots in Buffalo, but let's be honest that the airline industry has learned a lot from previous crashes and made sure these things don't happen again - or maybe don't happen often. I would not deny the airline industry ability to manage safety or learn from their mistakes.

gg
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05-19-2009 06:03 PM

I see folks going on a tangent on this topic.. anyways my take on this is that its too early for the Hispanic folks to make a deicision to switch parties especially when the current govt is just 3 months old. Secondly there is no guarantee that voting for the other party is going to make any difference. Hispanic folks voted of Jr Bush in great numbers which was one of the reasons he won both the tightly contested predential elections. Jr Bush tried to push CIR in his second term but did not have the political capital and hence failed in his attempt.

As I have said before there is no good time for pushing the CIR. The folks who oppose immigration would do irrespective of what the economic or political climate. And then Hispanic voters switching parties is also going to piss of some of the Democratic senators who are on the fence on the immigration issue.

My gut feeling is the current dispensation (Obman Govt) would not work on the immigration bill until they have passed the healthcare and energy bills. It would not make much sense for them to give immigration priority since its the American citizens who voted them to power and hence they interests come before the interests of foriegners. But at the same time I would think it would not be a bad idea to start talking about immigration right now as this would be a distraction for Republican and much need relief for Nancy Pelosi.

Instead of switching parties I think they should come up with more innovative ideas. Failing to show up at the farms for a couple of weeks would shoot up the grocery prices is one example.

JoeF
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05-19-2009 06:39 PM

"its the American citizens who voted them to power and hence they interests come before the interests of foriegners"

Legalizing the status of undocumented people, and getting more people on H1 into the country IS in the interest of the American people. Legalizing people increases the tax base, and curbs abuse, and more people on H1 helps to keep high-tech jobs here instead of the jobs moving offshore.
So, the CIR would be a win for everybody.

George Chell
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05-19-2009 07:45 PM

"Legalizing the status of undocumented people, and getting more people on H1 into the country IS in the interest of the American people. Legalizing people increases the tax base, and curbs abuse, and more people on H1 helps to keep high-tech jobs here instead of the jobs moving offshore.
So, the CIR would be a win for everybody."

Unfortunately people who think that shutting out immigrants is a good thing are quite a few in number, and it is a vicious cycle. They shut immigrants out, more jobs go abroad, tax revenues fall, budget cuts means fewer Americans being trained, which means we need more foreigners who are shut out and the vicious cycle continues.

You get what you pay for. If Americans pay their taxes they will educate more American students. Otherwise even the so-called public universities will educate fee paying foreign students if sources of funding come from private sector. End of story! The reason we have a shortage is simple...Americans love all their goodies but dont want to pay for it. That is why we have a pilot who is paid $16,000 per annum without any foreign competition and crashes a plane killing several people and that is why we have a lot of foreigners effectively competing with Americans for jobs. You antis want to educate Americans ask them to pay for it! Nothing comes free!

George Chell
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05-20-2009 04:00 AM

"Voters themselves are partly to blame, approving initiatives in years past that have created or expanded programs without identifying how to pay for them.

"One thing we do know is the voters' wish list is a lot longer than the 'I'm willing to pay for it' list. People are going to have to rectify the two," state Treasurer Bill Lockyer said."

This combined with jobs moving abroad as a result of immigration restrictions are the main reasons why we have the debt in both California and Washington DC!

JoeF
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05-20-2009 10:01 AM

One of the main reasons for the debt in CA is that CA relies very strongly on income taxes. With the recession, income taxes are down big time.
Of course, a decent legislature would have made sure to have saved money for bad times...
On the federal level, the money went to a misguided war...